The present invention relates to a measuring system for ophthalmic surgery having a wavefront sensor and imaging optics. In particular, the invention relates to a measuring system for ophthalmic surgery having a wavefront sensor and imaging optics and which is suitable for use in surgery, in particular for use in eye surgery, by providing a sufficiently large distance between the imaging optics and the object under inspection. Furthermore, the invention relates to a measuring system for ophthalmic surgery having a wavefront sensor and an OCT system.
Wavefront sensors, which are configured to characterize the form of a wavefront of measuring light, are known in the art. Such wavefront sensors may in particular be used to measure aberrations of a human eye by using a Hartmann-Shack sensor, as described in the article of J. Liang, B. Grimm, S. Goelz, J. F. Bille, “Objective measurement of a Hartmann-Shack wavefront sensor”, J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 11 (1994) pp. 1949-1957. In such a system, the Hartmann-Shack sensor comprises in particular an array of microlenses which is arranged in a plane, wherein in a common focal plane of the microlenses, a position-sensitive light sensor is arranged. With such a Hartmann-Shack sensor, a form of a wavefront, which is incident onto the array of microlenses may be determined by measuring local inclinations of a wavefront in regions corresponding to each of the microlenses.
For measuring the optical properties of a human eye, an illumination spot, which is as small as possible, is generated on the retina of the human eye. A nearly spherical wave emanates from this point-like illumination spot, traverses the vitreous body, the lens and the cornea and leaves the human eye. The form of the wavefront is altered when it traverses the different optical interfaces of the human eye. This results in a deviation of the exiting wavefront from a plane wavefront. These deviations from a plane wavefront may be represented by local inclinations within a lateral region and thereby may be measured by using a Hartmann-Shack wavefront sensor.
Document US 2005/0241653 A1 discloses a wavefront sensor which can be arranged and mounted between an objective lens of a microscope system and an object under inspection.
Document U.S. Pat. No. 6,550,917 B1 discloses a wavefront sensor, which is designed such that a spherical wavefront is transformable into a plane wavefront. The spherical wavefront may for example be a wavefront, which exits an ametropic eye having a spherical aberration. Thereby, it is possible to increase a measuring range of the wavefront sensor.
The document DE 103 60 570 B4 discloses an optical measuring system, which comprises an OCT-system and a wavefront analysis system. Based on a measurement of a form of a wavefront, an adaptive optical element is controlled such that wavefronts, which are measured by a wavefront detector are substantially plane wavefronts. Thereby, it is possible to obtain an improved OCT signal.
However, the wavefront sensors, which are disclosed in the documents mentioned above are only of limited use in surgical operations, since they require a short distance between the object and the optical component which is located closest to the object.
Therefore, it is an object to provide an optical measurement system having a wavefront sensor and which is suitable for use in surgical operations. In particular, it is an object to provide a measuring system having a wavefront sensor and which is suitable for use in eye surgery, in particular cataract surgery.
It is a further object to provide an optical measuring system having a wavefront sensor and an OCT system and which allows to inspect an object by analyzing wavefronts, which emanate from the object, wherein the analysis is performed by measuring a three-dimensional structure data set. The measuring system further has to be suitable for surgical operations.